Fatima Mevaza
Vetanie Useinova '(Crimean Tatar: ''Vetaniye Üseinova; Cyrillic: Ветание Юсеиноваhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Tatar_alphabet#Cyrillic), also known as '''Niya, is a fan character in Disney's Big Hero 6. ''Born in Ukraine, she is a Crimean Tatar-American criminal defence lawyer, former assistant of Krei Tech Industries, former SFIT student (a dropout), and a former lover of entrepreneur Alistair Krei. A childhood friend of Abigail Callaghan, she is an outspoken robophobe who opposes the city's fast-paced technological advancements. Following the events of the film, she is assigned to Robert Callaghan's case as his defence, She is portrayed by American actress Alia Shawkat. Background Official Description ''"Bold and utterly ambitious, Vetanie "Niya" (in most cases, she doesn't accept being referred to by her full name) Useinova is a young junior attorney working for the renowned Iwamoto-Rainer firm in San Fransokyo. Originally born in Ukraine, she moved with her family to the United States as a child, in which she struggled to master Western lifestyle. With an interesting history with the formerly esteemed robotics professor Robert Callaghan, she is assigned to the masked crusader's case following his attacks on the city. Ahead of her is a tough case — quite possibly her toughest — while she keeps a hidden secret about the Project Silent Sparrow failure locked inside." Personality TBA Physical Appearance Vetanie is a twenty-five year-old Crimean Tatar woman standing at a mere height of 5'5 (or 165.1 cm). She has fair skin with light freckles dotting her her entire face. Her eyes are oval-shaped and brown-coloured with light yet noticeable bags lining the bottoms. Niya has a rounded face in addition to her thick brown eyebrows and prominent nose and thin lips. Her most distinctive trait is her puffy and curly dark-brown hair worn in a semi-afro style (though she also allows it to grow out to reach her shoulders as well). As a child and adolescent, her hair was straighter and more wavy than outright curly, with Niya formerly growing it out to reach her back and styling it in a loose ponytail or double braids. Because of her vague features, she is considered to be "ethnically ambiguous" and, in some cases, "white-passing". Abilities TBA History Early Life Vetanie Useinova was born in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine, to parents Fikret Useinov and Zekie Useinova. Her parents were ethnically Crimean Tatars who practised Sunni Islam. Vetanie's father was born and raised in Uzbekistan as a result of the mass deportations of the Crimean Tatars in 1944, while her mother's family was able to remain on the Crimean Peninsula. She was an only child. Due to conflicts over Crimea between Ukraine and Russia, the family left Simferopol when Vetanie was only four years old, instead choosing to settle in San Fransokyo, United States, in the West Coast. In their new home in San Fransokyo, Niya's father, Sinaver, obtained a new job working as a sales representative for Krei Tech Industries, while her mother opened her own bakery called 'Tatli Pastries' (from the Crimean Tatar word tatlı ''meaning "tasty" or "sweet"), which sold Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian desserts. Zekie's business struggled, however, as she was not fluent in English and was greatly overshadowed by the much more popular Lucky Cat Café owned by Cass Hamada. Niya, the elder sister of a younger brother named Fikret, was raised a Sunni Muslim by her parents, of which still presently adheres to. Niya was never particularly close to her father, as the latter did a lot of travelling to foreign countries to meet with Krei Tech's many customers and business partners. Instead, Niya was mainly raised by her mother and began helping out in the bakery at a young age. Zekie, who was raised in a rural town in Crimea with little-to-no modern influence, was highly skeptical of San Fransokyo's technology and restricted Niya's exposure to it from a young age in favour of her connecting to her ethnic Crimean Tatar roots. As Niya was curious as to what her mother tried to hide from her, she would sneak out of the house to the local bot fighting matches near her apartment complex to watch. She never participated, however, as she herself harboured the same hesitant feeling of robotics as her mother had raised her in. Through the bot fighting matches, she encountered a young Abigail Callaghan as a child, with the two quickly becoming friends. Abigail, who proved to be highly competitive as a bot fighter herself, revealed to have been sneaking out from her father, who disapproved of "wasteful" bot fights. The two decided to form a team, with Niya as Abigail's strategist (she had been in competitive chess since the age of six) while Abigail designed and programmed the bots. Together, Niya and Abigail made quite a sum from winning numerous matches for some time, before Abigail's father finally caught her at a fight. Believing Niya was the one who pressured Abigail into the sport, Robert demanded for Niya to stay away from his daughter, labeling her as a "bad influence". Niya and Abigail attended the same schools throughout their academic lives, though they were forced to keep a distant relationship due to Robert's mistrust of Niya. As Niya attended a Japanese-based school with a predominantly European and East Asian demographic, she felt out-of-place among her peers. In intermediate school, she began rejecting her own Crimean Tatar background in favour of a more Western lifestyle – because of this, Niya refused to speak Crimean Tatar at home to her parents (her first language), which resulted in her gradually losing some proficiency in the language (though she later regained much of her fluency through rigorous practise). In order to fit in with the general population of 'Sokyo, she spoke solely in English for a time and would complain when her parents replied to her in Crimean Tatar. As a teenager, she took on volunteer work as a summer school tutor for younger children for several years. It was later a boy four years younger than her (a young Tadashi Hamada) at the summer school who suggested that Niya embrace her culture instead of deny it. Sinaver pressured her into entering robotics to boost his reputation at Krei Tech, though Niya expressed a stern disinterest in the field from early on. Her father was able to pull strings and get her into SFIT as an engineering major under Professor Callaghan, though Niya struggled greatly in the subject and later dropped out of the school (she claims that the main reason why she dislikes robotics is due to her father). Sinaver also managed to get Niya a part-time job at Krei Tech Industries as an assistant to Alistair Krei himself, though she found the task of monitoring his systems boring and tedious. She ''did, however, have a short-term relationship with Krei, though the both of them have solemnly agreed to keep the affair a secret so as not to damage Krei's reputation. Though she does not stay in active contact with him, Krei occasionally sends money for Niya and her family to sustain themselves as a "gift" of sorts. Sinaver, who became upset with Niya for dropping, cut most of his contact with her afterwards. Niya eventually decided to study law to become a criminal defense attorney and picked up a side job as a stand-up comedian for three years during her studies. She currently works as a junior attorney for the Iwamoto-Rainer LLP firm. In the aftermath of the film, she was assigned to Robert Callaghan's case as his defender, though Niya personally wanted to enter the case for personal reasons. During her time as an affiliate of Krei, she was one of the assistants present on Akuma Island with Abigail (as her support) during her test run with Krei's portal experiment. Being new to the job, she was nervous and overwhelmed by the many controls and switches on the panel controlling the portals, which she was tasked with monitoring. Right before the project, she accidentally pressed the wrong button, which would cause the "slight magnetic disturbance" reported to Krei (who ultimately discarded it). Believing she was the one who had "killed" Abigail, Niya became reclusive and later developed a minor form of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) from the strong guilt of involuntarily murdering her friend. She thus took on the case to "make up" for her biggest error, in hopes that helping Robert Callaghan would relieve her unrest. An outspoken robophobe against technology, Niya is also one of Baymax 's and Hiro's first patients for her PTSD. Though she meets Hiro only twice a month, the sessions usually end in Niya and Hiro in arguments over the morality of technology and further advancement. Niya, however, refuses to inform Baymax and Hiro of the underlying cause of her hatred and grief. Relationships Robert Callaghan "I guess this is the part when I recite that famous quote from American Horror Story now, huh. So surprise, Robert, I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me. And I can call you that now, since you're no longer my teacher or superior or whatever you thought you were in relation to me. I'm your lifeline now, and if I fail, you sink." — ''Niya, to RobertTBA Abigail Callaghan TBA Alistair Krei TBA Tadashi Hamada TBA Theme Song Vetanie's theme song is 'We Are Young by '''fun. Trivia * She owns a Shiba Inu named Miyu (美優; meaning "beautiful excellence" in Japanesehttps://www.behindthename.com/name/miyu). * 'Vetanie' is a Crimean Tatar name taken from the Arabic word ' ' (waṭan) meaning "homeland, fatherland"https://www.behindthename.com/name/vetanie/submitted. It was chosen by her parents in honour of the homeland (Crimea) they left behind to immigrate to the United States. * In earlier concepts, she was portrayed as (at separate points in time) Druze, Parsi, Tajik-Azerbaijani, Georgian, Greek, Armenian, Kazakh, Indian, Malay, Circassian, Avar, and Chechen. ** Vetanie is a combination of her creator's scrapped characters Lyazzat, Lusine, and Sitora. Lyazzat was a Kazakh psychologist with a dislike towards technology, while both Lusine and Sitora were Robert Callaghan's defenders in court (Lusine was meant to be his estranged wife). * The decision to use Alia Shawkat as her face claim was inspired by this image of a Crimean Tatar girl, of whom I thought bore resemblance to the actress. * No one has ever been able to correctly identify Niya's ethnicity, as knowledge on her background is quite obscure. She claims to be mostly mistaken for Turkish, Arab, Persian, or European, and she refers to herself as being "ethnically ambiguous". * Niya is biromantic and demisexual, meaning she feels romantic attraction to both males and females but only feels desire for sex through personal connections to a person. * Her mother frequently listens to Crimean Tatar pop music, of which Niya became accustomed to and eventually began to like. Her favourite song is "Kırım Kızı" (which translates to "Crimean Girl") by Günay Naiboğlu. * Niya's family bakery is located in the "Little Turkey" sector of San Fransokyo, which is dominated by the city's small Central Asian (i.e. Kazakh, Uzbek, etc), Turkish, and Turkic community. 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